Pranab casts his vote with PM, Sonia by his side

Presidential hopeful Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday cast his vote in Room No 63 of Parliament House.

He was flanked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

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Besides the UPA and its four supporting parties -- SP, BSP, RJD, JD(S) -- NDA members JD-U and Shiv Sena as also the CPI-M and Forward Bloc have declared their support for Mukherjee. 

The CPI, RSP, TDP and TRS, which together have about 36,000 votes, are likely to abstain from voting.

There are around 32,000 votes with smaller parties who have no presence in Parliament but have legislators in the states.

As many as 4,120 MLAs and 776 MPs with a total vote value of 10.98 lakh votes are eligible to cast their ballot in the 14th Presidential election.

Members of the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies make up the electoral college for the presidential election.

Image: Pranab Mukherjee on his way to cast hist vote at Parliament House.
Photograph: Jay Mandal